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The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People

J >> John George Bourinot >> The Intellectual Development of the Canadian People




The Union of 1840 and the extension of the political rights of the
people gave a new impulse to useful and practical legislation in a
country whose population commenced from that time to increase very
rapidly. In 1841, 1843 and 1844 measures were passed for the improvement
of the school system of both provinces. In 1846, the system of
compulsory taxation for the support of public schools was, for the first
time, embodied in the law, and education at last made steady progress.
According as experience showed the necessity of changes, the Legislature
improved the educational system of both provinces--these changes having
been continued to be made since Confederation. In Lower Canada, the
names of two men will always be honourably associated with the working
out of the School Law, and these are Dr. Meilleur and Hon. Mr. Chauveau,
the latter of whom succeeded in establishing Normal Schools at Montreal
and Quebec. In the Province of Ontario, Egerton Ryerson has perpetuated
his name from one end of the country to the other, where the young are
being educated in large, comfortable school-houses by a class of
teachers whose qualifications, on the whole, are of a high order.

Great as has been the progress of education in Quebec, yet it must be
admitted that it is in some respects behind that of Ontario. The
buildings are inferior, the teachers less efficient, and insufficiently
paid in many cases--and efficiency, no doubt, depends in a great measure
on the remuneration. The ratio of children who are ignorant of the
elements of knowledge is greater than in the Province of Ontario, where,
it must be remembered, there is more wealth and, perhaps, more ambition
among the people generally. Still the tendency in Quebec is in the
direction of progress, and as the people become better off, they will
doubtless be induced to work out their system, on the whole so
admirable, with greater zeal and energy.

In the Province of Ontario every child can receive a free education, and
can pass from the Public School to the High School or Collegiate
Institute, and thence to the University, where the fees are small and
many scholarships are offered to the industrious student. The principles
which lie at the basis of the system are local assessment to supplement
State aid; thorough inspection of all schools; ensuring the best
teachers by means of Normal Schools and competitive examinations,
complete equipment, graded examinations, and separate schools. The State
recognises its obligation to the child, not only by contributing
pecuniary aid, but by exercising a general supervision, by means of a
Superintendent in Quebec and by a Minister of the Crown in Ontario. The
system of Ontario, which has been the prototype for the legislation of
all the smaller provinces, is eclectic, for it is the result of a
careful examination of the systems that prevail in the United States,
Prussia, and Ireland.

As in the larger provinces, much apathy was shown in Nova Scotia for
many years on the subject of the education of the people. Unhappily this
apathy lasted much longer; for the census of 1861 proved that out of a
population of 284,000 persons over five years of age, no less than
81,469 could not read a printed page, and 114,877 could not write their
names. It was not till 1864 that Sir Charles Tupper, then Premier,
brought in a comprehensive measure containing the best features of the
Ontario system; and the result has been a remarkable development in the
education of the province. In New Brunswick, where the public schools
were long in a very inferior state--though parish schools had been
established as early as 1823--the system was remodelled, in 1871, on
that of Ontario, though no provision was made for Separate Schools--an
omission which has created much bitterness in the province, as the
political history of Canada for the subsequent years abundantly
testifies. In Prince Edward Island the first free schools were
established in 1852, and further improvements have been made of recent
years. In British Columbia, the Legislature has adopted substantially
the Ontario School Law with such modifications as are essential to the
different circumstances of a sparse population. In the North-west,
before the formation of the Province of Manitoba, education was in a
much better condition than the isolation and scattered state of the
population would have led one to expect. In 1857 there were seventeen
schools in the settlements, generally under the supervision of the
clergy of the Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian bodies. In
the Collegiate School, managed by the Church of England, and supported,
like all other institutions in the country, by contributions from
abroad, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Thucydides and Livy were read with other
classics besides mathematics. In 1871 a school law of a liberal
character was passed, provision being made for Protestant and Roman
Catholic schools separately.

The higher branches of education have been taught from a very early date
in the history of all the provinces. In the Jesuit College, the Quebec
Seminary, and other Roman Catholic institutions founded in Montreal, St.
Hyacinthe, Three Rivers, and Nicolet, young men could always be educated
for the priesthood, or receive such higher education as was considered
necessary in those early times. The Quebec Seminary always occupied a
foremost position as an educational institution of the higher order, and
did much to foster a love for learning among those classes who were able
to enjoy the advantages it offered them. [Footnote: Mr. Buller, in his
Educational Report to Lord Durham, says: 'I spent some hours in the
experimental lecture-room of the eminent Professor M. Casault, and I
think that I saw there the best and most extensive set of philosophic
apparatus which is yet to be found in the Colonies of British North
America. The buildings are extensive, and its chambers airy and clean;
it has a valuable library, and a host of professors and masters. It
secures to the student an extensive course of education.'] It has
already been noticed that a Grammar School system was established in the
years of the first settlement of Ontario. Governor Simcoe first
suggested the idea of a Provincial University, and valuable lands were
granted by George III., in 1798, for that purpose. The University of
Toronto, or King's College, as it was first called, was established
originally under the auspices of the Church of England, and was endowed
in 1828, but it was not inaugurated and opened until 1843. Upper Canada
College, intended as a feeder to the University, dates back as far as
the same time, when it opened with a powerful array of teachers, drawn
for the most part from Cambridge. In 1834, the Wesleyan Methodists laid
the foundation of Victoria College, at Cobourg, and it was incorporated
in 1841, as a University, with the well-known Rev. Dr. Ryerson as its
first President. The Kirk of Scotland established Queen's College, at
Kingston, in 1841, and the Presbyterian Church of Canada, Knox's
College, at Toronto, in 1844. The Roman Catholics founded Regiopolis, at
Kingston, in 1846; St. Joseph's College, at Ottawa, in 1846; St
Michael's, at Toronto, in 1852. Trinity College, under the auspices of
the Church of England, was the issue of the successful effort that was
made, in 1849, to throw King's College open to all denominations. Bishop
Strachan determined never to lend his countenance to what he called 'a
Godless University,' and succeeded in founding an institution which has
always occupied a creditable position among the higher educational
establishments of the country. The Baptists established the Woodstock
Literary Institute in 1857; the Episcopal Methodists, Albert College, at
Belleville, in 1866; and the Evangelical section of the Church of
England, in 1878, obtained a charter for Huron College, under the name
of the Western University of London.

But the great Province of Ontario cannot lay claim to the honour of
having established the first Colleges with University powers in British
North America. King's College at Windsor, in Nova Scotia--the old home
of 'Sam Slick'--was the first institution of a high order founded in the
provinces, its history as an academy going as far back as 1788, when
Upper Canada had no government of its own. This institution has always
remained under the control of the Church of England, and continues to
hold a respectable position among educational institutions. Dalhousie
College was established at Halifax in 1820, chiefly through the efforts
of the Presbyterian Church. In 1831 the Baptists founded Acadia in
Horton, and in 1843 the Wesleyans an Academy at Sackville, N. B.--a
neutral ground as it were--which was afterwards elevated to the dignity
of a University. The Catholics founded St. Mary's at Halifax in 1840,
and St Francois Xavier at Antigonishe in 1855. In 1876 the experiment
was commenced, at Halifax, of a University to hold examinations in arts,
law, and medicine, and to confer degrees. In New Brunswick, King's
College was established at Fredericton in 1828 under the control of the
Church of England, but in 1858 it was made non-sectarian under the
designation of the University of New Brunswick. Even the little
Provinces of Prince Edward Island and Manitoba have aspirations in the
same way, for the University of Manitoba was established a year or two
ago, and the Prince of Wales College followed the visit of His Royal
Highness to Charlottetown in 1860.

The establishment of Laval University was an important event in the
annals of education of the Province of Quebec. Bishop Bourget of
Montreal first suggested the idea of interesting the Quebec Seminary in
the project. The result was the visit of the Principal, M. Louis
Casault, to Europe, where he obtained a Royal charter, and studied the
best university systems. The charter was signed in 1852, and the Pope
approved the scheme, and authorized the erection of chairs of theology
and the conferring of degrees. The University of McGill is an older
institution than Laval. The noble bequest to which it owes its origin
was for many years a source of expensive litigation, and it was not till
1821 that it received a charter, and only in 1829 was it able to
commence operations. In fact, it cannot be said to have made any
substantial progress till 1854, when it was re-organized with a
distinguished Nova Scotian scientist as its Principal--Dr. J. W.
Dawson--to whom his native province previously owed much for his efforts
to improve education at a time when it was in a very low state, owing to
the apathy of the Legislature. Bishop's College at Lennoxville was
established in 1844, for the education of members of the Church of
England, through the exertions of Bishop Mountain, but it was not till
1853 that it was erected into a University. Besides these institutions,
the Roman Catholics and other denominations have various colleges and
academies at different important points--such as St. Hyacinthe,
Montreal, Masson and L'Assomption Colleges. The Government of the
Dominion have also established, at Kingston, an institution where young
men may receive a training to fit them for the military profession--an
institution something on the model of West Point--the practical benefits
of which, however, are not as yet appreciable in a country like this,
which has no regular army, and cannot afford employment suitable for the
peculiar studies necessarily followed in the Academy. The Ontario
Government are also trying the experiment, on an expensive scale, of
teaching young men agriculture, practically and scientifically--a
repetition, under more favourable circumstances, of what was tried
centuries ago by the religious communities of Quebec. Nor, in reviewing
the means of mental equipment in Canada, must we forget the many
establishments which are now provided for the education of young women
outside of the Public and High Schools, the most notable being the Roman
Catholic Convents of Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, Ottawa Ladies' College,
Wesleyan Ladies' College at Hamilton, Brantford Ladies' College, Bishop
Strachan School at Toronto, Helmuth Ladies' College at London, Albert
College, and Woodstock Literary Institute, besides many minor
institutions of more or less merit. Several of our universities have
also shown a liberal progressive spirit in acknowledging the right of
women to participate in the higher education, hitherto confined to men
in this country--an illustration in itself of the intellectual
development that is now going on among us.

When we proceed to review the statistics of educational progress, they
present very gratifying results. The following table, carefully prepared
to the latest date, from the voluminous official returns annually
presented to the different Legislatures of the Provinces of Canada, will
be quite sufficient for the purposes of this paper:

Total number of public educational institutions in the Dominion 13,800

Number of pupils in attendance throughout the year 925,000
Amount now annually contributed by the State and People $6,700,000

Number of Colleges and Universities 21
Number of Undergraduates in Arts, Law, Medicine, Theology, about 2,200

Number of Superior and High Schools, including Academies and
Collegiate Institutes 443
Aggregate attendance in same 141,000

Number of Normal Schools 8
Number of students in same 1,400

Amount expended in Ontario alone during 30 years (from 1850
to 1880,) for erection and repairs of School-houses,
fuel and contingencies, about $15,000,000

[Footnote: The educational statistics preceding 1850 are not easily
ascertained, and in any case are small. I have not been able to
obtain similar figures for other provinces; in fact, in some cases,
they are not to be ascertained with any degree of accuracy.]

Total amount expended in same province, for all educational
purposes during same period, upwards of $50,000,000

Total amount (approximate), available for public school
purposes, in _all_ Canada, since Confederation,
_i.e._ in 12 years $64,000,000


These statistics prove conclusively, that Canada occupies a foremost
position among communities for its zeal in developing the education of
the people, irrespective of class. The progress that has been made
within forty years may be also illustrated by the fact that, in 1839,
there were in all the public and private schools of British North
America only some 92,000 young people, out of a total population of
1,440,000, or about one in fifteen, whilst now the proportion may be
given at one in four, if we include the students in all educational
institutions. But it must be admitted, that it is to Ontario we must
look for illustrations of the most perfect educational system. There,
from the very commencement, the admirable municipal system which was one
of the best results of the Union of 1840, enabled the people to prove
their public spirit by carrying out with great energy the different
measures passed by the Legislature for the promotion of Public Schools.
'By their constitution, the municipal and school corporations are
reflections of the sentiments and feelings of the people within their
respective circles of jurisdiction; their powers are adequate to meet
all the economic exigencies of each municipality, whether of schools or
roads, of the diffusion of knowledge, or the development of wealth.'
[Footnote: Hon. Adam Crooks, Minister of Education, Report on
Educational Institutions of Ontario, for Philadelphia Exhibition, p.
45.] As a result of such public spirit, we find in Ontario the finest
specimens of school architecture, and the most perfect school apparatus
and appliances of every kind, calculated to assist the teacher and
pupil, and to bring into play their best mental faculties. But there can
be no doubt that the success of the system rests in a very great measure
on the effort that has been made to improve the status of the teacher.
The schoolmaster is no longer a man who resorts to education because
everything else has failed. He is no longer one of that class of
'adventurers, many of them persons of the lowest grade,' who, we are
told, infested the rural districts of Upper Canada in olden times,
'wheresoever they found the field unoccupied; pursuing their speculation
with pecuniary profit to themselves, but with certainly little advantage
to the moral discipline of their youthful pupils.' [Footnote: Preston's
'Three Years in Canada' (1837-9), p. 110, Vol. ii.] The fact that such
men could be instructors of youth, half a century ago, is of itself a
forcible illustration of the public indifference to the question of
popular education. All the legislation in Ontario, and in the other
provinces as well, has been framed with the object of elevating the
moral and intellectual standing of a class on whose efforts so much of
the future happiness and prosperity of this country depends. On the
whole, the object has been successfully achieved, and the schoolmasters
of Ontario are, as a rule, a superior class of men. Yet it must be
admitted that much can still be done to improve their position.
Education, we all know, does not necessarily bring with it refinement;
that can only come by constant communication with a cultured society,
which is not always, in Canada, ready to admit the teacher on equal
terms. It may also be urged that the teacher, under the system as now
perfected, is far too much of an automaton--a mere machine, wound up to
proceed so far and no farther. He is not allowed sufficient of that free
volition which would enable him to develop the best qualities of his
pupils, and to elevate their general tone. Polite manners among the
pupils are just as valuable as orderly habits. Teachers cannot strive
too much to check all rudeness among the youth, many of whom have few
opportunities to cultivate those social amenities which make life so
pleasant, and also do so much to soften the difficulties of one's
journey through life. [Footnote: Since the above was written, I find the
following remarks by Mr. Adam, editor of the _Canada Educational
Monthly_, to the same purport: 'The tone of the Schools might be largely
raised and the tender and plastic nature of the young minds under
training be directed into sympathy with the noble and the elevating.
Relieved of much of the red-tapism which hampers the work of the
High-School teacher, the masters of the Public Schools have more
opportunity to make individuality tell in the conduct of the school, and
of encircling the sphere of their work with a bright zone of cultivation
and refinement. But the Public School teacher will accomplish much if,
reverently and sympathetically, he endeavours to preserve the freshness
and ingenuousness of childhood and, by the influence of his own example,
while leading the pupil up the golden ladder of mental acquisition, he
encourages the cultivation of those graces of life which are the best
adornments of youth.'--Feb. 1879.] Such discipline cannot be too rigidly
followed in a country of a Saxon race, whose _brusquerie_ of manner and
speech is a natural heritage, just as a spirit of courtesy seems innate
in the humblest _habitants_ who have not yet forgotten, among the rude
conditions of their American life, that prominent characteristic of a
Gallic people. [Footnote: More than forty years ago, Mr. Buller, in his
report to Lord Durham on the State of Education in Lower Canada, pays
this tribute to the peasantry: 'Withal this is a people eminently
qualified to reap advantages from education; they are shrewd and
intelligent, never morose, most amiable in their domestic relations, and
_most graceful in their manners_.']

It is quite probable that the Public School system of this country is
still defective in certain respects, which can only be satisfactorily
improved with the progress of experience. The remarks of a writer in a
recent number of a popular American magazine, _Scribner's Monthly_, may
have some application to ourselves, when he says that there is
now-a-days 'too decided an aim to train everybody to pass an examination
in everything;' that the present system 'encourages two virtues--to
forgive and forget, in time to forgive the examiner, and to forget the
subject of the examination.' The present writer does not wish--in fact,
it is rather beyond the limit he has marked out for this review--to go
into any lengthy discussion of matters which are worthy, however, of
consideration by all those interested in perfecting the details of the
educational system in Ontario; but he may refer, _en passant_, to the
somewhat remarkable multiplication of text-books, many of which are
carelessly got up, simply to gratify the vanity and fill the purse of
some educationist, anxious to get into print. Grammar also appears to be
a lost art in the Public Schools, where the students are perplexed by
books, not simple, but most complex in their teachings, calculated to
bewilder persons of mature analytical minds, and to make one appreciate
more highly than ever the intelligible lessons of Lennie's homely little
volume, which was the favourite in those times when education was not
quite so much reduced to a science. But these are, after all, only among
the details which can be best treated by teachers themselves, in those
little parliaments which have grown up of recent years, and where
educationists have admirable opportunities of comparing their
experiences, and suggesting such improvements as may assist in the
intellectual development of the young, and at the same time elevate
their own social standing in this country. On the whole, Canada has much
reason for congratulation in possessing a system which brings education
in every province within the reach of all, and enables a lad to
cultivate his intellectual faculties to a point sufficient to place him
in the years of his mature manhood in the highest position that this
country offers to its sons. As to the objection, not unfrequently urged,
that the tendency of the public school education of this country is to
withdraw the young from the industrial avocations of life, it may be
forcibly met by the fact, that it is to the New England States we look
for the best evidences of industrial, as well as intellectual,
development. The looms of Massachusetts and Connecticut are not less
busy--the inventive genius of those States is not less fertile, because
their public schools are teeming with their youth. But it is not
necessary to go to the neighbouring States to give additional force to
these remarks; for in no part of the Dominion, is there so much
industrial energy as in the Province of Ontario, where the school system
is the best. An English gentleman, who has devoted more attention than
the majority of his countrymen to the study of colonial subjects, has
well observed on this point: 'A key to one of the principal causes of
their successful progress in the development of industrial art is
probably to be found in their excellent and superior educational
system.' [Footnote: Address of Mr. Frederick Young on the Paris
Exhibition, before the Royal Colonial Institute, 1878-9.]

A review of the University system of this country, on the perfection of
which depends the higher culture of the people, shows us that the
tendency continues to be in the direction of strengthening the
denominational institutions. The Universities of Toronto and McGill are
the principal non-sectarian institutions of a higher class, which appear
to be on a popular and substantial basis. It is natural enough that each
denomination should rally around a college, which rests on a religious
basis. Parents seem in not a few cases to appreciate very highly the
moral security that the denominational system appears to afford to their
sons--a moral security which they believe to be wanting in the case of
non-sectarian institutions. Even those colleges which do not shut their
doors to young men of any particular creed continue to be more or less
supported by the denominations under whose auspices they were first
established. No doubt, these colleges, sufficiently numerous for a
sparsely peopled country like Canada, are doing a valuable work in
developing the intellectual faculties of the youth of the several
provinces. It is a question, however, if the perpetuation of a system
which multiplies colleges with University powers in each province, will
tend to produce the soundest scholarship in the end. What we want even
now are not so many 'Admirable Crichtons' with a smattering of all sorts
of knowledge, but men recognised for their proficiency in special
branches of learning. Where there is much competition, there must be
sooner or later an inclination to lower the standard, and degrade the
value of the diplomas issued at the close of a college course.
Theoretically, it seems preferable that in a great province like
Ontario, the diplomas should emanate from one Central University
authority rather than from a number of colleges, each pursuing its own
curriculum. No doubt it is also quite possible to improve our higher
system of education so as to make it more in conformity with the
practical necessities of the country. An earnest discussion has been
going on for some time in the United States as to the inferiority of the
American University System compared with that of Germany. [Footnote: An
article, in the July number of _Harper's_ for 1880, by so distinguished
an authority as Professor Draper, is well worthy of perusal by those who
wish to pursue this subject at greater length. Among other things he
says (pp. 253-4): 'There is therefore in America a want of a school
offering opportunities to large and constantly increasing classes of men
for pursuing professional studies--a want which is deeply felt, and
which sends every year many students and millions of dollars out of the
country. Where in the United States can a young man prepare himself
thoroughly to become a teacher of the ancient classics. A simple college
course is not enough. The Germans require that their teachers of Latin
and Greek should pursue the classics as a specialty for three years at a
University after having completed the gymnasium which, as a classical
school, would be universally admitted to rank with our colleges.... If
an American (or a Canadian) wishes to pursue a special course in
history, politics and political economy, mathematics, philosophy, or in
any one of many other studies lying outside of the three professions,
law, medicine, and theology, he must go to Europe. Again, whoever
desires even in theology, law and medicine to select from one branch as
a specialty, must go to Europe to do so.' Hon. Mr. Blake, in his last
address as Chancellor of Toronto University, also dwelt very forcibly on
the necessity of _post graduate_ courses of study in special
subjects.--_Canada Educational Monthly_, Oct. 1880.] John-Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Michigan University, and Cornell University,
are illustrations of the desire to enlarge the sphere of the education
of the people. If we had the German system in this country, men could
study classics or mathematics, or science, or literature, or law, or
medicine, in a national University with a sole view to their future
avocations in life. It is true, in the case of law and medicine Laval,
Toronto, McGill and other Universities in the provinces have organized
professional courses; and there is no doubt a desire on the part of the
educational authorities in these institutions to ensure proficiency so
far as the comparatively limited means at their command permit them. It
is certainly a noteworthy fact--lately pointed out by Mr. Blake--that
during the last five years only one fourth of the entrants into Osgoode
Hall were graduates of any University, and three-fourths were men who
had taken no degree, and yet there is no profession which demands a
higher mental training than the Bar. In medical education there is
certainly less laxity than in the United States; all the efforts of
medical men being laudably directed to lengthen the course and develop
the professional knowledge of the students. Still, not a few of our
young men show their appreciation of the need of even a wider knowledge
and experience than is afforded in the necessarily limited field of
Canadian study, by spending some time in the great schools and hospitals
of Europe. Of course, in a new country, where there is a general desire
to get to the practical work of life with as little delay as possible,
the tendency to be carefully guarded against is the giving too large
facilities to enter professions where life and property are every day at
stake. It is satisfactory, however, to know that the tendency in Canada
is rather in the other direction, and that an institution like McGill
College, which is a Medical College of high reputation, is doing its
best with the materials at command, to perfect the medical knowledge of
those who seek its generous aid. No doubt the time is fast approaching
when the State will be obliged to give greater assistance to Toronto
University so as to enable it to enter on a broader and more liberal
system of culture, commensurate with the development of science and
literature. Unless the State makes a liberal effort in this direction,
we are afraid it will be some time before University College will be in
a position to imitate the praiseworthy example set by Columbia College,
which, from its situation in the great commercial metropolis, and the
large means at its command, seems likely to be the great American
University of the future. It must be remembered that the intellectual
requirements of the Dominion must continue to increase with great
rapidity, since there is greater wealth accumulating, and a praiseworthy
ambition for higher culture. The legislature and the public service are
making very heavy requisitions on the intellect of this much governed
country, with its numerous Parliaments and Cabinets and large body of
officials, very many of whom are entrusted with the most responsible
duties, demanding no ordinary mental qualifications. [Footnote: It is a
fact worthy of mention in this connection, that in the English House of
Commons dissolved in 1880, 236, or more than a third out of 658, members
were Oxford or Cambridge men, while about 180 were 'public school
men,'--the 'public schools' being Eton and such high class institutions.
In a previous English Cabinet, the majority were Honor men; Mr.
Gladstone is a double first of Christ Church, Oxford.]

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